I didn’t know what to expect when I was sent DJ Cosmin’s Good To Be Free; with a name like ‘Cosmin’ I almost thought I was about to hear some Synthwave or even more ambient-leaning styles of music. I certainly didn’t expect to hear a house track with gospel-esque vocal arrangements provided by Amagin, and a song that heavily relies on chromatic chordal movements.
Good To Be Free comes in at 3 minutes 26 seconds long, and like most others in this genre is built on a drum loop and bass line, both of which are relatively static but develop a little during the chorus. That being said, I’m a sucker for house bass-lines, and enjoyed the sound-world they’d created.
The song’s underlying sentiment is a little unclear, I was however pleasantly surprised to hear an incredibly Justin Timberlake-influenced second verse – not an easy thing to achieve and overall a nice addition to the song.
As the drop hit for the second time, it became more evident what the song was supposed to be, but unfortunately it finished a short time afterwards. A reprise of this would have worked well – the riff was catchy and built up of interesting sounds.
I’m not entirely sure whether the lyric was a nod to Billy Taylor’s I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free. I really hope it was, I love the cross-pollination of genre present, and this reference would be the icing on the cake. The whole thing is undoubtedly a grower.
If you like what you heard, check out DJ Cosmin’s Facebook | Instagram | Website
